Embodiments of the present invention relate to the management of file systems via the use of Access Control List (ACL) systems and methods.
Access Control Lists are file system constructs used to grant users, groups or other entities access to file system objects (files, directories, etc.) within a file system. Once such ACL's are created, the entities generally retain access to the various file system objects until the granted privileges are removed by an administrator or owner of the file system object. Effective management of the file system may require an administrator or object owner to periodically evaluate the permissions that are granted and remove those that are no longer warranted or needed, for example in order to prevent the ACL from growing needlessly large and presenting burdens or problems with respect to efficient file system management. Removing stale or obsolete ACL permissions may also be advised to avoid security problems or other exposures presented by maintaining permissions of entities that actually should no longer have access to the file system object. Such conventional management processes may be time consuming and cumbersome to effect, or expensive in terms of system resources.